Brad Pitt scores win over Angelina Jolie in winery dispute; Court orders another deposition over 'blocked testimony' in actress's sale of stake

Brad Pitt has secured a fresh legal victory in his ongoing battle with ex-wife Angelina Jolie over Chateau Miraval. According to the latest reports, a judge has ordered a key figure connected to the case to return for another deposition.A Michigan judge, on May 20, ruled that attorneys representing the Stoli side "improperly blocked" a testimony by General Counsel Todd Culyba during a crucial deposition linked to the sale of Jolie’s stake in the French winery business, Page Six reported.As per the court documents obtained by the portal, the ruling comes after Culyba, was allegedly instructed not to answer 33 questions during a December deposition. These unanswered questions reportedly involved the role of Stoli’s ultimate beneficial owner, Yuri Shelfer in the purchase of Jolie’s stake in the company.The judge reportedly found that attorney-client privilege did not apply to the “business aspects” and that the said 33 questions could have been answered during the deposition. As part of the ruling, Culyba has now been ordered to appear for another deposition and respond not only to the previously blocked questions, but also any other related follow-up questions.The ruling comes only weeks after Jolie secured a legal win of her own when a Los Angeles Superior Court judge rejected Pitt’s attempt to compel her to hand over a set of private emails tied to the winery dispute. The court reportedly ruled that Pitt had failed to meet the legal threshold required to override attorney-client privilege protections.Pitt had, however, previously achieved another discovery-related victory in December 2025, when a judge ordered Jolie to provide certain unredacted non-attorney communications connected to the case.The former Hollywood power couple finalised their divorce in December 2024 after a long eight-year legal battle, following their 2016 divorce.Pitt and Jolie share six children together - Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh and twins Knox and Vivienne. The kids have been making headlines recently over their move to legally drop 'Pitt' from their surname.